This actually started off as a talk to retiring military / defense people, but I realized that there are many people who do not negotiate their salary!

Here is my take:

1. You cannot afford to wait for your boss to find out that you are a great worker and increase your salary. Mathematically, in a company with 20,000 people the chance of this happening are close to zilch.
2. Your boss may not be able to convince HR to increase your salary, unless you sit in appraisal meetings with a lot of data about your contribution. I have advised people on this, and it works.
3. Most people come to appraisal meetings with a prayer on their lips. A diary maintained on a weekly basis about your contribution to the company and a nice 2 page summary is far, far more useful.
4. Defense personnel spend about 20 years in an organisation where negotiation of salary is not possible, so they assume that they should not bargain or negotiate. Wrong assumption, make changes, NOW.
5. Even if it is a new job as long as you negotiate politely there is no risk of the job offer being withdrawn!
6. Ask if you justify and deserve the salary that you are asking for
7. Go and do your homework on the company, and find out what other companies pay.
8. Bigger companies may try to drive a harder bargain, be careful. Be polite but firm.
9. How well you can negotiate depends also on your strength. If you have a good job already, your position is strong.
10. Negotiation is not a great win situation – your next appraisal could be muted if you negotiated too well!!
11. Negotiation is useful because once you start on a high note, the chances of remaining there are higher
12. People who start off on a lower salary find it almost impossible to get a big jump, so the choice of first job is very important.
13. Be careful about breaking the deal by being unrealistic.
14. Do not lie about your current package. I have seen companies refusing to talk to the candidate post lie detection!!